WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION

Sunrise: 04:13 Sunset: 19:46

A Long-Awaited Rematch

This their
second and last major battle of the 1st Silesian War gave both the
Austrians, under Prince Charles, and the Prussians, under Frederick II, a
chance to redeem mistakes from the Battle of Mollwitz the year before.
For the Prussians' part, Frederick had spent more than a year
retraining, remounting, and refitting his cavalry, which had embarrassed
him so egregiously at Mollwitz. For the Austrians, under the new
commander, Prince Charles, their infantry saw 1742 as a much better
trained and disciplined force than the raw recruits had been at the
beginning of the war. Each side was anxious to test themselves again.

Unfortunately
for Frederick, Charles surprised him with his forces dispersed. The
Prussian rear guard of some 12,000 (including most of the cavalry) under
Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau, was caught on the early morning of 17
May by Charles' entire army of 25,000, who were supposed to still be
two days march away. Instead of providing intelligence and security, as
light cavalry would later be tasked to do, the Prussians' sole hussar
regiment under Bronikowsky was bedded down comfortably somewhere near
Kutterberg and it took a few hours to locate and rouse them for battle.
So the Prussians were initially caught flat-footed in this battle, just
as they had caught the Austrians at Mollwitz the year before. Frederick,
with the bulk of his army's infantry, was at least three hours march
away in Kutterberg. Leopold began frantically sending messenger after
messenger to him beginning around 0500 to come quick, but many of these
messengers were intercepted by roving Hungarian hussar patrols, who
seemed to be, at least, doing their duty as light cavalry.

The
map below shows the situation at around 0700. Leopold was scrambling to
get his infantry lined up south of Chotusitz, but there was some
confusion about his orders from Jeetze. Meanwhile, Buddenbrock's cavalry
was deploying to the west and getting ready to charge the Austrian left
wing cavalry, uphill. Waldow's Prussian cuirassiers were coming in from
their camps around Schuschitz to attack the Austrian right wing next to
the Brzlenka stream. Frederick, meanwhile, with the bulk of the
Prussian infantry was still marching in from Kutterberg, to begin a
double line deployment in the dead ground between the Cirkwitz Pond and
Chotusitz.

To order a hi-res version of this map, which is rendered in such detail that
you can bore down into individual soldiers in their formations, contact Jeff
Berry at jeff@peoplesbranding.com. Cost is $10.

(narrative continues below the map and panoramas)

Copyright 2013, Jeffery P. Berry Trust, all rights reserved

1This
is the view that Prussian infantry would have had looking south toward
the Austrian positions as they entered the battlefield on the
Kutterberg-Chotusitz road. Though the crops (in this case corn) would
not have been this high during May.

2
Buddenbrock's Prussian cuirassier squadrons would have formed up about
700 meters here toward the east, extending in a double line of about
1000 meters. The plowed, bare ground in the foreground would have been
churned up into the blinding dust mentioned in descriptions of the
battle. While the Prussians would have charged up the hill to the right
to get to the deployed Austrian cavalry, you can see that it was not a
steep hill, and entirely accessible to cavalry.

3
Batthyanyi's Austro-Hungarian cavalry, about 6000 strong, would have
been deployed in three lines atop this ridge. The Prussian right wing
cavalry, would have probably been hidden at first by the intervening,
rolling landscape. The dust of their deployment into position must have
been noticed.

4
Another view from the Austrian cavalry's position on the left wing,
looking NE toward Chotusitz and the Prussian infantry. The Prussians
would have been deployed around the area which is currently occupied by a considerably
built-up air base, which you can see is entirely hidden by the ground,
as is the village of Chotusitz.

5View from the Austrian center looking toward Leopold's infantry around Chotusitz. The elevation of the Austrians was not so great that they had a commanding view of the enemy numbers or movement. The Austrian heavy guns would have been unlimbered in the right middle distance of this view.

6
Position of the Austrian right wing cavalry under Lichtenstein, looking
toward the Prussian left. Waldow's three Prussian cuirassier squadrons
would have charged over this ground from the center distance.

The Cavalry Debacle

The
battle opened with the Prussian cavalry charging both wings of the
Austrian line. They had been in intensive reorganization and retraining
since their shameful showing at the Battle of Mollwitz the year before
and were eager to get payback. However, while both Waldow and
Buddenbrock's squadron's inititally drove off the Austrian first lines,
the western cavalry battle devolved into a long skirmish with the
Austrian second line cavalry, who eventually drove off or captured what
was left of Buddenbrock's cuirassiers. Meanwhile, Buddenbrock's second
line of dragoons, who should have been support, had veered off course to
their left, lost in the swirling dust, to run unexpectedly into the
fire of the Austrian left wing infantry, and were driven off themselves.

The
eastern cavalry battle, in spite of the Prussian initial success, only
resulted in the disordered Prussian squadrons chasing off to the west
and never rallying to attack Charles' main line in the rear.
Consequently, Liechtenstein's Austrian cavalry were able to rally,
reform and attack the Prussian camps behind Chotusitz, where they
themselves found themselves sucked into a fruitless loot-fest.

Therefore, through collective indiscipline, both sides lost effective use of their cavalry for the rest of the battle.

Fighting in the Center: Leopold Fights for Time.

In
the meantime, Charles began a bombardment of Leopold's infantry south
of Chotusitz with a concentration of heavy guns and howtizers. After
about an hour of this, he launched his first line of infantry against
the outnumbered Prussians. Leopold's battalions, in spite of their
superior discipline and rates of fire, found themselves falling back
through the village of Chotusitz, fighting a stubborn, house-to-house
withdrawal. In the process of driving the Prussians, Charles' infantry
managed to set fire to the thatched roofs of the village, helping no
one, least of all the hapless villagers.

Frederick Counterattacks

By
this stage, around 0930, the entire battlefield was obscured by the
swirling dust of the ineffectual cavalry battles and the smoke of the
burning Chotusitz. Under the cover of all this, and the dead ground
between Cirkwitz Pond and Chotusitz, Frederick was able to deploy his
fresh infantry in a great, oblong square of 24 battalions (about 12,000
infantry), each supported by two of the new 3 pounder guns.

At
1030, this huge striking force was ready. Frederick ordered it to wheel
left and start firing on the left flank of the Austrian infantry,
engaged in pushing back Leopold through Chotusitz. The grand tactical
surprise that Charles sprung on Frederick at dawn was now returned.
Completely shocked by this sudden appearance of thousands of fresh
Prussian infantry on their flank, the Austrians began to fall back.

Seeing
that his chance for a coup was gone, his left flank now threatened, and with the loss of any command of his cavalry from their looting and hand-to-hand fighting, Charles ordered a general retreat through Czaslau. Though he
had begun the battle with an excellent chance of victory, and though
his infantry had performed admirably (especially compared to their
embarrassing performance at Mollwitz the year before), Charles conceded
the field to Frederick, who had made the fewest tactical mistakes
(barely) and ended up with the last trope. The last battalions and guns
made it over the Brzlenka bridges into Czaslau about noon. The
battle was over in time for a nice lunch.

A Bloody Mess

Both sides
suffered heavily at Chotusitz; the Prussians lost 4,819 (mostly
cavalry) KWM, and the Austrians 6,322 (including 1,200 prisoners) and 18
guns or about 20% of both sides' forces. However, under the gentlemanly
rules of 18th century warfare, Frederick technically "won" the battle
since he remained on the field. This probably felt like a distinction
without a difference to the thousands of horribly mangled survivors of
the two armies.

While the Prussian cavalry had improved
considerably in the year since Mollwitz, it still had a long way to go.
It's biggest problem was not in its aggressiveness or charge
discipline, but in its ability to retain control of itself following a
successful charge. Horses tended to run away with the rest of the herd,
in what amounted to a stampede. Frederick was going to have to work on
this.

Austrian cavalry, too, was only marginally more
disciplined at this stage than the Prussians. In the opening of a battle
they could give a good accounting of themselves, but after a victory,
they were too tempted by looting the enemy camp to retain control enough
to envelope the enemy flanks. While they ultimately won the western
cavalry battle, they had no reserves or reformed units to exploit the
exposed Prussian infantry's flank.

Strategically
Chotusitz was decisive for Frederick in that it allowed him to negotiate
a separate (if temporary) peace with Maria Theresa and extricate
himself from this first of the two Wars of the Austrian Succession with
possession of Silesia, an extremely rich and populous province. He used
this two year truce and his new Silesian resources to build up his army to
continue part two of the war in 1744.

War Game Considerations

1. Cavalry Combat Efficiency

In
rating the cavalry units for a war game, in whatever simulation system
you use, rank both Prussian and Austrian cavalry as either Militia or
Green for rallying purposes. If your system gives you flexibility to
rate your units at varying levels by activity, both cavalries
should also be rated at Regular or Veteran combat efficiency levels for
purposes of movement and charging. Once disordered, however, their
combat efficiencies should drop to the next lower level, making it
harder for them to reform.

2. Austrian Infantry Rating

In
the year since the disaster of Mollwitz, the Austrian infantry had much
improved. Though it still had perhaps 1/3 the rate of fire of the
Prussians with their iron ramrods (the Austrians used birch ramrods to
load their muskets, which had a tendency to break if used in haste), and
was deployed in the less efficient four rank line (vs the Prussian three
ranks), it still managed to push back the Prussians. So, in rating the
Austrian infantry vis-a-vis the Prussians, one could rank them as more
or less equivalent in combat efficiency (though with a slower rate of
fire).

The Austrian infantry at this date, too, did not
employ cadenced marching, which meant that their movement and change of
formation was more likely to disrupt their ranks. So whatever mechanism the game engine employs to simulate the risk of disruption from movement should be heightened for Austrian troops. Either that or one can simply reduce the movement rates by half for the Austrians, simulating frequent stops to dress the ranks.

3. The Timely Arrival of Frederick

One of the controversies about this battle is why it took Frederick so long to get the bulk of his army the seven miles from Kutterberg in spite of Leopold's urgent messages to come quickly. One theory is that the Austrian hussar patrols were so thick that all but one of the messengers were intercepted, preventing Frederick from getting word.

Another is that even though under normal marching speed, someone could have walked the seven miles in a little under two hours, this wouldn't have accounted for the much greater amount of time it would take to issue orders, assemble the troops (in some cases, find where they were camped), form them up and get them under way. In the days before radio, all messages and orders had to be conveyed paper or word of mouth, and delivered by horse. Since Frederick wasn't expecting to have to counter-march, much less fight a battle, he had probably allowed his own force to become lax and dispersed.

To simulate this unknown, one an generate a randomizing element (dice, for instance) each turn after 0700 to see if the lead elements of Frederick's infantry appear on the northwestern edge of the map/board.

Copyright 2013, Jeffery P. Berry Trust. All rights reserved. No part
of this site may be reproduced or re-posted without permission the the Jeffery P. Berry
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Map Reference

A Google Maps view of the battlefield can be found by searching for Chotusice, Czech Republic. This is one of those areas that is covered in high resolution detail. You will see, though, that while the countryside and villages look pretty much as they must have looked 270 years ago, the central area of the battlefield is currently the site of a decommissioned air base.

Chotusitz Orders of Battle

These
orders of battle were derived from Christopher Duffy's "The Army of
Frederick the Great" and his "Frederick the Great: A Military Life".
Individual unit strengths are averages from the reported gross strength
of each army.

While it is reported that the Austrians
had 29,000 in the battle, Duffy's report of 3,000 hussars greatly
exceeded those two regiments described as actually being present, so
that the lower number here was probably the result of most of the
hussars being detached before the battle. The 2,500 Pandours and
Warasdiner Croats are also not mentioned as participating directly in
any of the researched narratives. So the actual Austrian combatants may
have been about the same strength as the Prussians.

About Me

I've been a card-carrying member of the advertising profession for 29 years, and not a day longer. Currently I am the Beloved Leader of People's Branding, Ltd. I was, at one time, also a naval intelligence officer. But that's another story.